Bangalore Elders go quietly,siblings brave it John Bosco Tirkey & Nathanel Dang from Karbi Anglong John Bosco Tirkey,22,and Nathanel Dang,20,burned all identity proof connecting them to Assam before they arrived at Bangalore City railway station to join the trickle of 300-odd people of various northeastern states leaving Bangalore on Saturday. Tirkey and Dang,workers at a factory 60km from Bangalore,were fleeing like hundreds of others in the swirl of psychological fear created by messages of attacks in retaliation to recent incidents of violence in Assam. The two,who belong to Karbi Anglong,say they dumped or burned identity proof because they were scared to face a situation where they would be identified as people of Assam among the fleeing masses. Yet,Tirkey and Dang have left a bit of themselves back in Bangalore in the hope of returning soon. Their younger siblings Danish Tirkey and Daniel Dang,both 19,remain at the factory; the elders admit they are braver. The messages of fear have been all around us and we succumbed. My brother showed more heart. He said it is better that one of us stays and keeps his job. It will help me also come back here once things settle down. We had just begun to like Karnataka, said the elder Tirkey. My brother said we are going to die anyway,whether we go back to Assam or stay back in Karnataka. We were under constant pressure from our friends and family to come back, said Nathanel Dang. Tirkey had begun working on lathes after he was unable to complete his graduation for want of money. Their father lives alone in Karbi Anglong. We do not come from anywhere near the places where there has been trouble in Assam but such is the fear in the community that we are going home. There are many older people who are living in fear but have not been able to leave, Tirkey said. A family from Kokrajhar,whose members work at the factory with Tirkey and Dang,have not been able to leave,Tirkey said. Orwil Khujur cannot leave Bangalore because his wife and children are with him. As youths it is easy for us to find our way back; for Khujur it is not possible. He told us that though he was afraid,he has to stay on, Tirkey said. On the 11 trains that have ferried people from Bangalore to Guwahati over the last three days,the majority of travellers have been young and in the age group 18 to 30,with older passengers constituting barely a handful. According to an employer whose security agency includes Assamese guards,some of the senior employees who had not reported to work for a couple of days have started to come back,following assurances by the government and the police. We told some of them that they would lose incentives like gratuity and Diwali bonuses if they abandoned their jobs. Some left saying there would be no question of incentives if they died. Some stayed back, a general manager said. We expect most people to come back to their work or studies in Bangalore, said the Karnataka police chief,Lalrokhuma Pachau,a Mizo. Johnson T A Guwahati They found dreamland,nightmare ended it all Jintu Deuri Deuri from assam Jintu Deuri,21,comes from the village Burha-burhi Deurigaon in Sadiya,the easternmost subdivision in Assam. His journey to Bangalore had begun with an hour-long boat ride across the southern channel of the Brahmaputra. Two months after bagging his first job,he is back in Guwahati and on his way home. I had gone to Bangalore with great hopes. Manoj,my cousin,motivated me to go there and find a job, said Jintu. They are Deuris,a small tribal community spread across the upper Assam districts. Manoj was the first from their village to have joined as a security guard in Bangalore,and has over the years helped at least 50 others reach Bangalore. With three friends I set out on a five-day journey from Burha-burhi Deurigaon. And within three days in Bangalore,Manoj got me a job, Jintu said. We have some land in the village. But recurring floods only made us poorer every year. This job that Manoj got me was a huge thing. But today I am literally zero and heading back to Sadiya, said Jintu,after alighting from one of the two overcrowded Bangalore-Guwahati special trains that brought over 7,000 panic-stricken Assamese home on Sunday. Jintu had failed the high school finals twice. My father refused to support me. Moreover my elder brother Jadav and elder sister Minoti are both in BA second year. So,I went off to Bangalore. When I sent home Rs 3000 out of my first months salary of Rs 6500,my father was glad, said Jintu. I want to go back. What will I do here? said Jintu,who fell in love with Bangalore in his two months there. No bandh,no strike,no militancy,no golmaal. For a person like me who has grown up through encounters between the ULFA and the army,Bangalore is heaven. You work and earn. Mukut & Jwna Daimary Bodos from Assam Mukut Daimary,who hails from Kalmanipara village in Udalguri district in northern Assam,has been working in a restaurant called China Bowl in Bangalore for eight years or so. Five years later,when he got married and took his wife Jwna to Bangalore,she enrolled into a beauticians course,and six months later,she found a job in a beauty parlour. The couple together earn about Rs 20,000 a month,of which they send between Rs 8000 to Rs 10,000 every month to their family in the Assam village. Two years ago,Mukut took his elder brother Rijoy to Bangalore and found him a waiters job at a restaurant on MG Road. But one SMS that which triggered widespread fear among thousands of young people from Assam working in Karnataka caught Mukut,Jwna and Rijoy in its sweep. They caught the first available train to Guwahati. Something happened in Kokrajhar three weeks ago,and some people came and threatened us in Bangalore last week. Some boys from our state were assaulted too,creating a situation where we had to flee, said Mukut,who was on the first of the two special trains that together brought about 7,500 people from Assam home on Sunday. Mukut,a Bodo,had specialised in Chinese cuisine,and like hundreds of young people from across the Northeast working in Chinese restaurants in the major cities of the country,had a secure job. He is so fascinated by anything Chinese that they have given their daughter a Chinese name,Arlin. She is nine months old. In Assam,Mukut has his parents in the village,a brother studying in BA class in Dhekiajuli and a sister pursuing a nursing course in Tezpur. They have been able to pursue their studies because we send them money every month. Now if we cannot go back to Bangalore soon,it will affect their studies besides other things, said Mukut. Samudra Gupta Kashyap Pune All 7 states,and 1 from elsewhere Rahul G Khongsar & Synsharlang Lymba Khasis from Meghalaya Rahul and Synsharlang,both 18 and studying in a junior college in Pune for two months now,were threatened on August 16 by a man who first asked them whether they were from Assam. We told him we are from Meghalaya,but he forced us to say we are Assamese. Then he threatened us,saying that if the clashes continue in Assam,we will have to face the consequences, said Rahul,who like Synsharlang belongs to East Khasi Hills. We have absolutely no connection with the violence in Assam. We have decided to stay back. Biplav Kotaki Assamese The problem of Bangladeshi infiltration has since 1971. It has nothing to do with Muslims in any other part of India, said the Assamese student,who has decided not to leave Pune. Likha Rajum,Kaushik Mitra,Daniel Renthei From 3 states,no connection Likha Rajum,in Pune for six years,is a masters student in social work,and president of the Arunachal Students Welfare Association. Our state,the easternmost,is not connected to the violence, he said,adding how beautiful a tourist destination it is. Kaushik Mitra of Tripura,in Pune for five years in a software company,pointed out that Tripura is not connected either. And Daniel Renthlei of Mizoram,in Pune for four years and pursuing a bachelors degree in computer engineering at D Y Patil College of Engineering,said,The motive of the rumours was to create fear. He has decided not to leave Pune. Sodom Burman Dimasa From Nagaland Working for the last eight months as a painter in Ambegaon,a suburb of Pune,he had been earning,sending some of it back home and saving a bit for himself. He decided to leave. I could earn about Rs 9,000 a month,sometimes working two shifts a day. I still do not understand how Nagaland can be connected to Assam. Ramesh Suba Not even from N-E Ramesh Suba of Darjeeling had been working as a cook at a Chinese food stall for eight years. He left with his family. My family is originally from Nepal. I was brought up in Darjeeling. But people from the northeastern states told me that it was better that we leave Pune, Suba said. Joy Horam,Raees Ahmed & Marci Newme Tangkhul Naga,Muslim & Zeme,all from Manipur An Infyosys employee,Horam,32,has been in Pune for 10 years now. Most of those attacked in Pune were Manipuris who had nothing to do with the Assam violence. The conflict is in western Assam,while Manipur is far towards the east. There are hundreds of tribes with different cultures,languages and problems in all northeastern states. Raees,30,a Manipuri Muslim from East Imphal district,has been in Pune for six years now. He got his masters degree in English literature from the University of Pune and now works with a multinational company. He spoke of the bonhomie between Manipuri Muslims and other ethnic communities,and it is the Manipuri identity that made him wonder if he would be targeted. I was worried initially but have now decided to stay back,he said,wishing people would try and understand the variety in Manipurs tribal culture. Adds Merci Newme (above,with Horam),20,who belongs to Manipurs Zeme tribe,I feel people should understand the difference between every state in the Northeast. While I was doing a designing course in Pune,my classmates thought I am Chinese. CHANDAN HAYGUNDE & SUSHANT KULKARNI
